Las Nieves

I’ve written before about the lovely church at Las Nieves. Las Nieves means “The snows”, and Our Lady of the Snows is the patron saint of the island. The statue in the church is small, maybe 20″ high, and she dates from the early 15th century. That’s before the Spanish conquest of the island, because she was brought here by missionaries. Most religious statues here are made of wood, but…

Las Nieves is a pretty hamlet, in the municipality of Santa Cruz, but about 2 km outside it as the crow flies. If you’re fairly fit, there’s a pretty (but rough and steep) footpath between the two. More importantly, Las Nieves has the most gorgeous church on the island. It’s also one of the oldest, dating from at least 1423 (they had missionaries here before the conquest in 1493). The…

Las Nieves will be holding its annual fiesta starting on Friday at about 1 am. It’s quite a big fiesta as Our Lady of the Snows (the Virgin Mary) is the patron saint of the island. The church holds a statue of the her in painted terracotta, from the 15th century, standing on a marble throne covered with silver. Las Nieves is a pretty hamlet, in the municipality of Santa…

Casa de los Romeros Las Nieves There are several things to see in the centre of Las Nieves, apart from the church. This house was built for pilgrims in 1653, on the site of an even older building. It’s been restored several times since then. There’s also a house (on my right as I took this photo) where they sell things like postcards, rosaries and religious medals. Canons on the…

I can’t believe that I haven’t written about Las Nieves church before. Las Nieves is a pretty hamlet, in the municipality of Santa Cruz, but about 2 km outside it as the crow flies. If you’re fairly fit, there’s a pretty (but rough and steep) footpath between the two. More importantly, Las Nieves has the most gorgeous church on the island. It’s also the oldest one, dating from at least…

The main event on Sunday was the huge procession to bring the Virgin’s throne down from Las Nieves to Santa Cruz de la Palma. The throne comes apart into perhaps twenty pieces, each mad of wood, covered with silver. It’s a great honour to carry one, but some of the sections look like they weigh a ton. Last time I went to the bajada del trono it was baking hot….